I know you say LANL is huge and thus you don't know 90% of the people, there, but do you know any folks that work on HPSS? Or perhaps you store your data in HPSS? If so, I work on that software at IBM (with help from some of you at LANL and ANL and SNL and a few other labs)!

I just get really excited when I hear about someone who may be using or perhaps even know our software, since so few people do.

I know you say LANL is huge and thus you don't know 90% of the people, there, but do you know any folks that work on HPSS? Or perhaps you store your data in HPSS? If so, I work on that software at IBM (with help from some of you at LANL and ANL and SNL and a few other labs)!

I just get really excited when I hear about someone who may be using or perhaps even know our software, since so few people do.

Long live tape drives!

She doesn't, but I do. I'm not sure I'm at liberty to say anything about HPSS and how it is or isn't used.

I wouldn't bet on tapes being terribly long-lived in the world of exascale though...

Waco wrote:I wouldn't bet on tapes being terribly long-lived in the world of exascale though...

The imminent death of tape has been predicted many times, and has not yet come to pass. For data that does not require near-instant access, it cannot be beat for cost/GB or physical storage density. Tape has played a role in the IT infrastructure of every job I've had since the 1980s, including my current one.

The years just pass like trains. I wave, but they don't slow down.-- Steven Wilson

Captain Ned wrote:Let's all be careful with potential Real Life Rule #1 violations. Don't want to see anyone lose a clearance (or worse) because of something said here.

That'd be why I didn't say anything.

just brew it! wrote:

Waco wrote:I wouldn't bet on tapes being terribly long-lived in the world of exascale though...

The imminent death of tape has been predicted many times, and has not yet come to pass. For data that does not require near-instant access, it cannot be beat for cost/GB or physical storage density. Tape has played a role in the IT infrastructure of every job I've had since the 1980s, including my current one.

I understand that - but at least for HPC purposes - I don't see them lasting much longer bar some amazing breakthrough in tape technology.

Waco wrote:I understand that - but at least for HPC purposes - I don't see them lasting much longer bar some amazing breakthrough in tape technology.

Well... while it is true that there haven't been any amazing breakthroughs, capacity and speed does continue to improve. LTO cartridges store 2.5 TB each, and can stream data at 160 MB/sec, with a roadmap for future drives to store 12.8 TB at 472 MB/sec.

(We use LTO tapes to back up our Windows server at work.)

The years just pass like trains. I wave, but they don't slow down.-- Steven Wilson

Waco wrote:I understand that - but at least for HPC purposes - I don't see them lasting much longer bar some amazing breakthrough in tape technology.

Well... while it is true that there haven't been any amazing breakthroughs, capacity and speed does continue to improve. LTO cartridges store 2.5 TB each, and can stream data at 160 MB/sec, with a roadmap for future drives to store 12.8 TB at 472 MB/sec.

(We use LTO tapes to back up our Windows server at work.)

I didn't realize that tapes were still so relevant- we don't have that level of storage or archival needs, but man, that beats the hell out of Blu-ray. Heck, that beats everything except SSDs for plug-and-archive speeds.

Airmantharp wrote:I didn't realize that tapes were still so relevant- we don't have that level of storage or archival needs, but man, that beats the hell out of Blu-ray. Heck, that beats everything except SSDs for plug-and-archive speeds.

Airmantharp wrote:I didn't realize that tapes were still so relevant- we don't have that level of storage or archival needs, but man, that beats the hell out of Blu-ray. Heck, that beats everything except SSDs for plug-and-archive speeds.

Except that the drives themselves cost north of $50k.

That's new too . I guess that's the price payed to continue development for a technology so few are interested in these days. Used to be able to pick up drives and tapes off the shelf at CompUSA.

Airmantharp wrote:That's new too . I guess that's the price payed to continue development for a technology so few are interested in these days. Used to be able to pick up drives and tapes off the shelf at CompUSA.

Yeah, definitely wasn't trying to get into any confidential material. It's public knowledge that the DOE uses HPSS - y'all were even on one of our slides at Supercomputing this year.

I think tape still has some life...if you have a very large amount of archive data that you rarely plan to access. Then the shelf life of tape and power savings will work out for you. Otherwise, it's not too well suited.

I'm kinda surprised that most tapes are actually lagging behind disks in terms of storage capacity. Other than the T10KC tapes, I don't think too many are past 3.2 TB.

Anyway, I'm just happy to know that other gerbils know what I'm talking about.

Airmantharp wrote:That's new too . I guess that's the price payed to continue development for a technology so few are interested in these days. Used to be able to pick up drives and tapes off the shelf at CompUSA.

That's what I love about the Tech Report - its purity. (Saying that kinda made me feel like the guy on Alien.)

On many tech sites, one might see, "ZOMG a gurl want to go on a date with m3?" Here, data storage technology will trump even a seemingly friendly, intelligent, and tech savvy female. And that's how it should be. Why? My girlfriend could dump me whenever she feels like it, but I've always got an offsite backup of my data. And my precious, precious data is fast, easy, and faithful. I rest my case.

Buzzard44 wrote:That's what I love about the Tech Report - its purity. (Saying that kinda made me feel like the guy on Alien.)

On many tech sites, one might see, "ZOMG a gurl want to go on a date with m3?" Here, data storage technology will trump even a seemingly friendly, intelligent, and tech savvy female. And that's how it should be. Why? My girlfriend could dump me whenever she feels like it, but I've always got an offsite backup of my data. And my precious, precious data is fast, easy, and faithful. I rest my case.

Welcome to TR!

That paraphrase was science officer Ash. With that, I have again demonstrated my awesomeness. BP, ready to dump Waco and spend your life chasing me yet?? ;p